Ricky Javenta Ball, 33
Columbus, MississippiOctober 16, 2015

Summary

Ricky Javenta Ball, 33, was shot and killed by police in Columbus Friday night, October 16, 2015, after he ran from a traffic stop, according to police. The name of the officer is not currently being released. CPD Assistant Chief Tony McCoy referred all questions to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. According to police, at approximately 10 p.m. Friday, an officer attempted to make a traffic stop of a vehicle Ball was a passenger in. The vehicle did not adhere to the stop, and Ball jumped out and ran, Strain said. The officer pursued Ball on foot. Police saythey do not know what occurred between the time the officer pursued Ball and the time Ball was shot.

Legal Action

The city turned the investigation over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations. After MBI completed its investigation, District Attorney Scott Colom handed the case to the Mississippi Attorney General's office. Assistant AG Stanley Alexander presented the case to a Lowndes County grand jury, which chose to indict Boykin.

After the former CPD officer entered his plea Friday and was assigned his $20,000 bond, his lawyers vehemently defended their client to the press.

September 2016 Family objects to disrespect shown by officers applauding the former officer when he was indicted

October 2016 A former Columbus police officer named as a defendant in a federal wrongful death lawsuit is now wearing a badge in Starkville.

Mayor Parker Wiseman introduced Garrett Mittan to the board of aldermen Tuesday as a new Starkville Police Department officer. Mittan, who worked for nearly three years for CPD, is accused in a lawsuit brought by the estate of Ricky Ball last week in the U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi of planting a weapon at the scene of the October 2015 officer-involved shooting that claimed Ball's life.